Easter hand grenades, swarms of stinging bees, and rabid animal bites were only a few of the ways the infamous Rant Casey liked to spend his time. In Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Rant (published in 2007), much of Casey’s life and actions were told through the eyes of others, telling the fascinating story of a serial killer. Palahniuk does a wonderful job of letting you see through his characters’ eyes, creating a world from the memories of the townspeople, and finding a new way of telling a story through others’ memory lapses.
Rant Casey was one man that the town of Middleton, rather, the country, would not soon forget. After he has left the town, Palahniuk takes you back to Middleton to hear Casey’s old friends, neighbors, teachers, and relatives’ points of view on his history. While each of these characters is telling you what part of Rant they knew or experienced, Palahniuk gives each of these minimal characters their own personality and introduces you to their true thoughts and ideas about the real Rant Casey. Doing this, the stories of Rant Casey are not the only stories being told, but also the stories of all of his old acquaintances.
In addition to creating the identities of the people who remember Rant Casey, Palahniuk also invites you into the small town of Middleton with his incredibly detailed imagery. Making his readers feel like a member of this society by writing of all of the feelings and events of Middleton, Palahniuk still finds a way to make this town connect to a town that you have lived in or visited. Palahniuk found a way to make the “ratty sofas abandoned on porches”, “cars parked in front yards”, and “houses balanced on cinderblocks” feel like home to all the fantastic stories that were told here (Palahniuk, 11).
Chuck Palahniuk’s way of telling this story is fairly unique. Though the story is told in pieces (random memories from various people), it is still very effective at getting his point across and telling the story that he wanted to tell. In many ways, the variety of narration in Rant gives a whole new point to the story, and gives the reader another plot to follow along with other than the main character’s. Though this novel is divided into chapters, the chapters aren’t necessarily grouped into any specific order, and the personal accounts that make up the chapters are not organized in any logical way. However, the reader still gets a definite sense of knowledge of who the characters truly are and what happened to the boy named Rant Casey.
In Rant, Chuck Palahniuk uses great characterization techniques, amazingly intense uses of imagery, and a new and interesting style of writing to tell a truly unique story. Though this novel is definitely intended for an older audience, mature teenagers will appreciate it as well. Palahniuk has many novels on the national bestseller list, and this one did not fail to follow suite. To no one’s surprise, Rant is another great Chuck Palahniuk novel, and will positively be your ‘‘vaccination against boredom’’ ( Palahniuk, 69)